‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’ Hires ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Stunt Team; Going Cosmic?

Jun 5, 2017

We’ve assumed for months that X-Men: Dark Phoenix would be going cosmic as the comic story opens the door for The Shi’ar Empire and other cosmic characters from the X-Men franchise to make their debuts.

In a recent interview with X-Men: Dark Phoenix producer Hutch Parker,  ScreenRant was able to get him to speak about the future of the franchise and he invoked Guardians of The Galaxy and indeed teased an intention to go cosmic.

“I can’t really speak to anything specifically but I think the challenge as offered by all the films we’ve mentioned [including Guardians Of The Galaxy] is very – we’re very aware of the challenge that those movies pose and what it sort of demands of us as storytellers mining, again, one of the great comic runs in The Dark Phoenix Saga. Our hope and the expectation is to try and do something that feels different, that takes the audience into a different tone and a different sense of cinematic style that is appropriately suited to the story we’re telling.”

“We… know that it’s not as simple as picking up where we left off in any way. We actually have to be bolder [sic] and more inventive than that. [Getting cosmic] is certainly a possibility. That is certainly a possibility. Yes.

It’s hard to ignore the parallels between Guardians and X-Men’s own cosmic swashbucklers The Starjammers. The team is led by Scott’s space pirate father Corsair and later led by his brother Havok.

The film’s original working title Supernova (changed to Teen Spirit) alluded to how the cosmic entity The Phoenix recharged her powers by draining the sun, causing a supernova. Josh Boone confirmed a while back that X-Men alien Warlock (Phalanx alien race) would be in New Mutants.

We’ve also been learning about the film’s crew as filming is set to begin soon in Montreal, Quebec.

Omega Underground has learned that two of Mad Max: Fury Road‘s Aussie stunt team Guy Norris and Richard Norton, are taking lead on the action sequences. This could speak towards the film’s scale and the studio’s commitment to upgrade the action quality. As one of our biggest issues have been some lackluster action in the main films.

Norris will act as the film’s action unit director and Norton will take the role of fight choreographer. They have also worked together on WB’s Suicide Squad.

Stunt coordinator Mike Scherer (X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse) is expected to return as well.

Here’s a taste of the work from Guy and Richard on Fury Road.

A concept artist on the film is Keith Christensen, who did some work on Days of Future Past, Logan, and Apocalypse. He’s an interesting pick because of his other credits which include sci-fi franchises Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Trek Into Darkness, Man of Steel, and Ghost In The Shell.

It’s hard to ignore that Keith would make an excellent artist to design the Shi’ar Empire.

-The Force Awakens (Kylo Ren and Maz) 

– Man of Steel (Kryptonians)

Omega Underground has also uncovered a majority of  X-Men: Dark Phoenix’s crew.

Aird, Vincent (1st Assistant Art Director)
Alder, Caroline (Art Director)
Auclair, Daniel (Production Manager)
Banal, Jessica (Assistant Art Department Coordinator)
Belzile, Maggy (2nd Assistant Accountant
Bernard, Andréane (3rd Assistant Art Director)
Bydwell, Glenn (Set Designer)
Cadieux-Morin, Philippe (Assistant Art Department Coordinator)
Chamberland, Renaud (Set Designer)
Collman, Ariane (3rd Assistant Director)
Dan, Jessica B. (2nd Assistant Art Director)
De Cotiis, Renato (2nd Assistant Director)
Drapeau, Anik (3rd Assistant Director)
Ferderber, Geneviève (Art Department Coordinator)
Gagné, Jocelyne (Production Accountant)
Gagné, Joseph (1st Assistant Art Director)
Gaucher, David (Art Director)
Giguère, Mathieu (Art Director)
Gingras-Liberali, Vincent (Set Designer)
Gomez Zlatar, Patricia (2nd Assistant Accountant)
Goyette, Claude (Set Designer)
Gravrand, Étienne (Set Designer)
Guilbault, Simon (Set Designer)
Hébert, Raphaël (3rd Assistant Director)
Katakos, Soto (1st Assistant Accountant Payroll)
Katerelos, Spiri (1st Assistant Accountant)
Kazemirchuk, Jean (Art Director)
Lachance, Sarah (2nd Assistant Art Director)
Laliberté, Michèle (Supervising Art Director)
Lambert, Brent (Set Designer)
Lampron, Céline (Set Designer)
Laramy, David (1st Assistant Art Director)
Larivière-Charron, Félix (Art Director)
Lavallée, Kim (Art Department Coordinator)
McDonald, Amy Lynn (3rd Assistant Accountant)
Meunier, Véronique (Art Director)
Paré, Claude (Production Designer)
Pigeon, Guy (Set Designer)
Robinson, Andrew (1st Assistant Director – 2nd-Unit)
Simard, Doris (Supervising Art Department Coordinator)
Slaimi, Radia (Set Designer)
Théberge, Simon (2nd Assistant Art Director)
Topalian, Bernard (1st Assistant Accountant)
Touikan, Alex (Set Designer)
Vallée, Viviane (Art Department Coordinator)
Young, Patrick (3rd Assistant Director)

Simon Kinberg is rumored to be directing the film but 20th Century Fox has yet to announce anyone as the director, which has been an odd move by the studio.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix shoots this summer in Montreal and will be released on November 2nd, 2018.

SHARE THIS POST